


The More Things Stay the Same

by InsaneJuliann



Series: The Evolution of Buddie [11]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, New Relationship, they're together now and it's soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25472176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneJuliann/pseuds/InsaneJuliann
Summary: Eddie's realizing that, now that he's dating Buck, it's not that much different from before, really - except for the increased touching and kissing. That's new. Maybe that's why no one's caught on yet, and they're able to keep it to themselves for now.
Relationships: Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: The Evolution of Buddie [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730287
Comments: 89
Kudos: 534





	The More Things Stay the Same

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, yes, it's been forever and a day. I've been busy, and working on one or two other AUs that have come to mind and are Big Projects. (And then I got sucked into The Old Guard so that's been all I've thought about for the past several days tbh.)
> 
> But here I am, with the next installment! Get ready for the second arc. :) Please enjoy.

The thing was – it wasn’t like much changed. Not really, Eddie found.

Sure, Buck touched him a  _ lot _ more freely now. They kissed. If Buck stayed over, it wasn’t ever on the couch anymore. They went on a few dates, small things that weren’t too flashy or romantic when they were in public, and often things they could bring Chris along with them to do, like going to one of the many museums in LA.They still had their usual movie nights on Fridays, though Buck started sticking around more often after Chris was in bed. On those nights, they’d talk and kiss and sometimes just stretch out together on the couch or the bed and relax.

But even that – it didn’t feel new. Buck and Eddie had taken Chris places before they were dating, they had spent time together outside of work before, usually at Eddie’s or Buck’s places to talk and watch movies and eat.

So all of it was new and yet at the same time so much of it was already familiar, worn-in habits. Every once in awhile it felt like it hit Eddie all over again.

This was what everyone had been seeing, before. The depth of – everything, the way Eddie and Buck had just… seeped into the crevices of each other's lives. But now, it was actually a romantic relationship. Now, Eddie was aware of it all, how it had looked and what they could be. Of how he felt about Buck.

Now, he knew he could reach out and touch Buck, kiss him, do any number of things he hadn’t done since his and Shannon’s relationship had been on better terms, and it….

Eddie was sometimes struck with how terrified he was of losing it all. Now that he had it? He didn’t want to ever have to give it up.

Thankfully, Buck was as seemingly determined not to go anywhere as he had been since over a year ago, after he’d promised to always be there for Eddie and Chris. In fact, Buck seemed thrilled with the new semi-openness of things, and Eddie often would find himself being tugged back around a corner for a kiss, or with Buck’s arm around his waist and his chin sitting on Eddie’s shoulder as they watched Chris play at Abuela’s with some cousins, or just grabbing up Eddie’s hand while they were watching a movie.

They hadn’t told the team yet. Everyone had really been distracted, anyway, since Maddie and Chim had announced that they were having a baby. Eddie wondered if they were going to get married first or not, but he didn’t bring it up to anyone. He was pretty sure it’d just send Chim into even more of a frenzy, that Buck would probably get sucked into some research binge about shotgun weddings or something, and Bobby would get that look of resigned ‘why are the adults I work with such a mess’ he sometimes got.

Between Hen studying for her tests, Maddie and Chim’s news, and a large scale fire breaking out late August that required several teams and several days’ work, everyone seemed not to notice any possible changes about how Eddie and Buck were acting.

Which was a relief, because Eddie was in no way ready to announce it to them yet.

He’d feel guiltier about that, if Buck didn’t get that almost angry, stubborn look on his face when Eddie said as much.

“Eddie, I don’t know how many ways I can say it, but we’re not going to do anything you’re not feeling ready to do. That includes telling people. Yeah, they’re our team and friends, but that doesn’t mean they have the right to know everything going on with us at all times. Stop beating yourself up for needing time.”

Eddie always felt a strange twist of fondness and embarrassment when Buck said things like that. Like he thought Eddie was – he didn’t know,  _ mean  _ to himself or something.

And it wasn’t like no one knew, Eddie reminded himself. He wasn’t keeping Buck a secret. Some of his family knew. Buck’s sister knew. He hadn’t told Karen yet, though Eddie thought maybe she knew simply for the fact that he didn’t bring up the whole sexuality thing as much anymore when they did hang out, and neither did she.

Things were – good. Slowly, Eddie stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop and just… enjoyed it.

  
  


“Hey Dad,” Chris asked, heels kicking against the legs of the kitchen chair he was perched in. He didn’t look up from his homework, so Eddie knew whatever he was about to ask, it would be something that was a big deal for Chris. 

“What’s up, buddy?”

Chris’ nose scrunched as he erased a bunch of his work for a math problem and started again carefully. “Back to School night is next week.”

“I remember. Thursday night.”

“Uh huh. You don’t work, right?”

“That’s right.” He raised a brow. “You worried I won’t make it?”

“No, I know you will. But….” His heels kicked again; his pencil was now still against the paper. “Is Buck working?”

Ah. “No, he has the day off too,” Eddie said after a moment. He turned back to the counter, making their dinner plates and watching Chris from the corner of his eye. “Did you want to hang out with him after?”

“That’d be cool.” Chris’ heels drummed again. “But maybe, Buck could come too? You took Carla last year. You could take Buck now.”

Eddie brought their plates over and sat across from him, curious. “Any reason you want Buck to come? Carla sees your teachers more, since she picks you up a lot.”

Chris’ nose scrunched. He set his pencil down and pushed his homework aside, making room for the plate Eddie slid over to him. “Yeah, she does, so she already knows my teachers. But Buck doesn’t - and they haven’t met him yet.”

“You want them to meet Buck?”

Chris grinned. “Yeah! They always get kinda confused when I talk about him, but you said not to tell people you’re boyfriends yet, so I can’t tell them - but if you bring Buck, maybe they’ll stop thinking it’s weird that I talk about him so much.”

Eddie took a bite of his dinner, considering his son. He guessed it might be weird to Chris, to keep something so big a secret. Not just from his teachers, but his friends too. He had talked about Buck before he and Eddie got together, Eddie knew, but he sounded like maybe he was even more now - which made sense. Buck was over even more.

Someone must have said something in particular, though, Eddie thought. Said something, or questioned it, when Chris was talking about Buck. This was Chris’ way of proving something, or reassuring himself of something, or maybe just of showing people Buck  _ was _ a big part of his life. Eddie wasn’t sure. He wasn’t going to push for more of a reason why now, but he’d keep an eye on things. 

“We can ask him,” Eddie said, smiling a bit when Chris did a little cheer. “He might already have plans, though.”

“I bet he won’t.”

Eddie would bet that even if he did, he’d be as likely to cancel them for this as to not. Probably more likely. Buck leapt at every chance he was presented with, it felt like, to spend time with them. Eddie kept waiting for Buck to get - spooked, or something, he supposed. For the whole thing to be a bit too much, too soon. It hadn’t happened yet, and the way Buck acted and spoke it’d be easy to think it wouldn’t ever happen. But Eddie couldn’t entirely dismiss the idea that one day, something would be too much, too soon.

Not - it wasn’t a bad thing, Eddie thought. Eddie had had years to get used to the idea of having a kid, of being a parent, and Buck was - well, not one. But by dating Eddie, he was kind of putting himself in something a bit adjacent to that role; it was implied that one day he’d be another parent for Chris, but without all the build up and knowledge Eddie had gotten. At some point, Buck wasn’t going to be comfortable or as okay as he always seemed to be.

Eddie hoped Buck would be honest, when that time came. He hoped that Buck would admit it, so they could talk about it. So Eddie could help Buck, be there for him like Buck always was when it came to Eddie’s own uncertainty over things. He wasn’t sure Buck  _ would _ . All evidence so far pointed to Buck mostly internalizing and working himself up over things that upset him, while insisting to everyone he was fine - and often putting on a pretty decent act.

He’d just need to pay close attention. Remember Buck was a much better actor when it came to hiding things that bothered him than not.

  
  


“You sure about this?”

Eddie glanced over as he rounded the front of the truck, the smile on his face dropping a bit as he gave Buck a quick, assessing look over. Buck had a smile on his face, but it was thin, lips not quite tightly pressed together but edging into it. There was a small furrow between his brows, and his hands were shoved into the pockets of the light jacket he was wearing….

“Positive,” Eddie said, half grinning at Buck. Chris was several feet ahead of them, looking back with the most impatient and exasperated expression. Eddie nudged Buck’s side, staying pressed close - shoulders and elbows bumping into each other with each step. As Eddie watched, Buck’s smile loosened and the furrow between his brows smoothed out, though he kept his hands pressed deep into his pockets.

None of the teachers openly asked about Buck when they met him. Eddie caught a suppressed smile or two, at most, a kind of knowing or surprised look to their expressions. Chris dragged Buck around to show him things in the classrooms more than he did Eddie.

He didn’t take it personally. It was Buck - and for whatever reason, Chris felt like making a point. 

Or maybe he saw how uncomfortable Buck still seemed, and was trying to distract him while Eddie took the brunt of the teachers’ attention.

Then they got to Chris’ science teacher, the second to last one of the night, and Eddie thought,  _ Ah,  _ this  _ was why _ .

Chris already had a frown on his face when they entered the room, which was Eddie’s first clue, but it didn’t  _ click _ until the teacher raised both brows and gave an odd look between the three of them. 

It was a certainty when, during introductions, the man asked in a skeptical kind of tone, “And you’re Chris’...?”

Eddie ground his teeth through his smile. He knew it turned it sharp, and unfriendly, and he absolutely did not care.

Buck hesitated only a moment before saying, “I work with Eddie - uh, guess you could say I’m a good family friend.” 

“Hm.”

Part of Eddie really wanted to call the man out, ask if there was an issue. He wanted to grab Buck’s hand and correct what Buck had said - that he wasn’t just a family friend, not just Eddie’s coworker. 

His heart was racing a bit. His hands felt like they were shaking, though he wasn’t sure if they actually were or just felt like it. 

Chris had the biggest scowl on his face, not at all pretending to be nice.

“He says you help him with his projects.”

“Eh, sometimes….” Buck rubbed the back of his neck, putting a sheepish smile on his face that was entirely fake. 

“We really discourage…  _ adults _ from being too hands on with projects at this age. He needs to be doing them on his own.”

“Chris does his own work,” Eddie said, when Buck just stood there, blinking a bit in - shock, or uncertainty, Eddie wasn’t sure. “Buck only helps when Chris needs it.” Like guiding him through research, or putting things together when Chris needed a helping hand - stuff that was perfectly fine and Eddie would fight anyone who argued otherwise. Including the asshole in front of them.

“Hm.” 

The topic shifted, and thankfully the teacher seemed to realize from Eddie’s tone that he wasn’t going to welcome any more criticism - but the whole time there was a tension in the air.

There was no dumb joke or pun shared at the end. Eddie ignored the man’s hand when he held it out to shake.

Chris patted Buck’s arm as soon as the door closed behind them. “Carla doesn’t like him either.”

“I wonder why,” Eddie muttered sarcastically, just quiet enough that Chris, forging ahead and already talking about his music teacher and how much they’d like  _ him _ , probably wouldn’t hear. It made Buck huff a small sound that might have been a laugh, which had been the point.

Some of the tightness at the corners of his eyes eased up. Not all of it, and his lips were still pressed a little thin, but it was at least something.

Eddie was hit with the urge to reach out and squeeze Buck’s hand. If the hallway had been more deserted, he would have. If they’d been somewhere anonymous, or somewhere alone, Eddie didn’t think he would have reigned the impulse in.

He wished he didn’t have the equally strong urge to hide, the ridiculous feeling of panic at the back of his throat at the thought of people  _ seeing _ . That the thought of people knowing who Buck was to him now, of them knowing Eddie wasn’t straight, didn’t make him feel on the tipping edge of fight or flight.

The back of Buck’s hand brushed his, startling Eddie a bit. He glanced sideways, but Buck was staring ahead and responding to Chris’ request that they go  _ faster _ . It was only for a moment, but Eddie felt Buck’s pinky catch and hook around one of his fingers, before it slipped away and Buck was jogging after Chris, catching him up in his arms and spinning in the hallway with him. Chris’ laughter echoed off the walls and tiled floor, drawing the attention of some of the other parents and kids there.

Eddie just grinned, chest tight but in the best kind of way.

  
  


The movie had ended fifteen minutes ago, but neither of them had moved. Eddie refused to open his eyes, just letting himself stay lulled into whatever spell Buck had somehow cast by stroking over Eddie’s hair. 

They were smushed awkwardly on the couch, and it wasn’t comfortable at all. Eddie’s hand was pinned under Buck’s shoulder and falling asleep; he was pretty sure his hip was digging into Buck’s stomach. 

Neither of them were trying to shift apart.

Buck leaned in closer - his breath warm against Eddie’s cheek - and whispered, “You awake?”

Eddie didn’t open his eyes. He did hum, just an acknowledgment. 

He swore he could feel Buck smile. He feathered a kiss to Eddie’s cheek, down near his jaw. Then another, farther along, then at the corner of his mouth. “You sure?”

Buck’s shoulder lifted off of Eddie’s hand. He flexed it, trying to work out the pins and needles. Reaching up with his other hand, he curled it over Buck’s shoulder and around the back of his neck, still a little hot feeling from their afternoon at the park. Buck had gotten a haircut the other day, and the shorter hair still was a little different than Eddie was used to feeling there.

Eddie hardly had to shift his head, and their lips were meeting. It was barely kissing, just lazy brushes and slight pressure and sighs.

“I’m too old for making out on the couch,” he groaned after a bit. His hand still hadn’t fully woken up, he could feel the muscles in his shoulder and neck getting tight, and he kept worrying one of them was going to move wrong and fall off the couch. 

Buck snorted, ducking his face into Eddie’s neck. The kiss he put there was almost absent. “Well if you were  _ awake _ I’d suggest we move this to your  _ bed _ , but….”

Eddie finally dragged his eyes open. He gave Buck his best ‘I’m not impressed with your attitude look’. While it worked great on Chris, Buck just gave him a sunshine bright smile in response.

Rolling his eyes, Eddie shoved at him, making room for him to roll out from under Buck and get to his feet. He stretched, groaning softly as his neck popped, low down where it met his shoulder. It felt good.

Buck got up behind him and curled his arms around Eddie. He was pressing kisses to his neck, down along his shoulder, then back. His hands weren’t idle either.

Eddie let out a shaky breath, tilting his head back. Sometimes there was still a weird dissonance in his mind, like his brain tripped up over the realization that oh, Buck was in fact a bit taller than him, that was different. Eddie could lean his weight into Buck, and Buck could hold it.

“Bed?”

Eddie swallowed. “You staying the night this time?”

Buck hummed, not actually responding. He was possibly busy working what was maybe going to be a fucking hickey down near Eddie’s shirt collar.

“You want me to?” Buck asked when he pulled away.

Always.

“I want omelets for breakfast.”

Buck snorted. His hands slipped to Eddie’s hips, squeezing, before he stepped away. “You sure you actually have eggs in your fridge?”

“That was one time.”

Buck shot him a skeptical look - jokingly so, it wasn’t hard to spot the smile at the edges of his lips - and Eddie rolled his eyes and flipped him off. Eddie went around, checking the locks and turning out any forgotten lights. Buck followed along with him, picking up Chris’ backpack and setting it on the hook by the door, grabbings someone’s forgotten glass and putting it in the sink. It wasn’t yet a familiar routine, but Eddie thought about how maybe one day it would be and felt something a lot like longing.

He missed that. Having someone around for the day to day, the mundane and boring parts of a life, of raising a kid, of being with Eddie. It had always felt like it was slipping in and out of his grasp, with Shannon. Sometimes they’d get it, just click into the right gear together, and it was wonderful; and then without any reason why that Eddie would notice, they’d fall out of sync and it was tense and frustrating. 

He shook those thoughts off. That was the past, and now was different. It would be - it had to be, because Eddie didn’t think he could stand being hurt like that again.

Buck followed Eddie to his bedroom. Eddie opened one of his drawers, where there were a couple shirts and a pair of shorts Buck had left behind at one point or another. He tossed them to Buck, who caught them easily and set them on the bed before stripping. Eddie watched from the corner of his eye, then remembered that, well… he was allowed to watch. So he did.

He definitely caught the little smirk on Buck’s face, even if Buck wasn’t looking back at him. 

Buck’s skin was smooth and a little red on his shoulders from his sunburn. He was broad and firm and Eddie liked that, like touching up his chest and over his shoulders and down his arms. Buck’s hands were a little rough, texture wise, but always so unbearably soft in how they touched Eddie. 

Annoyingly polite too, sometimes. Eddie always wound up twisted with some kind of relief and frustration when Buck refused to do more than just skim his hands here or there, to grip Eddie’s hips but only ever over boxers or pants, and never very tight.

Eddie suspected at some point,  _ he _ was going to have to be the one to push that. It was kind of a big thought, so he hadn’t yet and he was still turning it around in his mind - what did he want, precisely, beyond more than what Buck was doing, and how did he want to do it and when and what might he say if Buck questioned him about it. If Eddie felt ready to talk to Karen about it, maybe he’d have asked her. (He wasn’t sure, but maybe.) He definitely wasn’t going to bring it up with  _ Marisol _ . 

Besides the endless teasing, he did not want to talk about that kind of thing with his baby cousin. Just… no.

Buck slipped into the side of the bed Eddie privately now thought of as his, and Eddie slipped in beside him. They faced each other, quiet and still for a moment. Eddie didn’t know what Buck was thinking, but his eyes were soft and thoughtful and his hand when it came up was barely touching Eddie’s cheek. He stroked his thumb there, once, before leaning in and kissing Eddie. It was slow and soft, almost like their lazy kisses out on the couch, but for some reason it made Eddie’s chest twist painfully. 

He bit Buck’s bottom lip, pleased when Buck just barely sucked in a little breath, a little gasp. Yeah, Eddie had caught on to that. And the hair pulling. Buck liked those things, and he liked it when Eddie told him if things were particularly good. Eddie was careful scratching his fingers through Buck’s hair, not wanting to catch his nails on the sunburn on the back of Buck’s neck and actually hurt him. 

At some point, they ended up with Buck’s leg between Eddie’s, and Buck leaning half over him, fingers almost ticklishly light as one hand ran gently over Eddie’s ribs, across his chest, down and then over to his ribs again. 

It was all so fucking good, and Eddie wanted it to keep going for hours and hours maybe, except -

Buck snorted, ducking his head down to rest his forehead against Eddie’s shoulder when Eddie broke away to yawn.

“Yeah, yeah,” Eddie mumbled. “Laugh it up, asshole. You weren’t the one waking up early this morning because Chris was so excited to see his Bucky.”

Buck just shrugged, grinning, and settled on his side. His hand stayed against Eddie’s chest, warm and still. Eddie reached up and curled his fingers around Buck’s wrist, stroking absently.

“Just admit you’re old.”

“Fuck you too,” Eddie snorted, closing his eyes. 

“You’re the one who said you were too old earlier.”

“Why did I want you to stay the night again?”

“Omletes.”

“Oh. Right.” Eddie grinned, opening his eyes and tilting his head to see Buck again. “Guess that makes it worth it.”

Buck rolled his eyes, smiling, and said, “Go to sleep.”

  
  


“So,” Karen said, dipping a fry into a milkshake and taking a bite. Eddie scrunched his nose at it, eating his fries with ketchup like a normal person. “How was Back to School night?” She had a little smirk on her face, which only grew when Eddie groaned and leaned back in his chair, arms crossing.

“Who told?”

She snorted. “Buck told Maddie who told Chimney…”

“Who told Hen.” Eddie sighed, running a hand over his hair. “I swear, gossip spreads faster than a fucking fire with them all.”

Karen barked a soft laugh. “Yeah. Not many secrets.”

Oh, Eddie could name at least one big one.

“It was fine,” he said, leaning back towards his food and eating another few fries. “Chris was very excited to show off his Buck to all his teachers. Who was I to deny him that huh? Buck helps with his homework as much as I do anyway.”

“Mhm.” Karen was still giving him a little smirk. “Spends a lot of time at your house.”

“Should start charging him rent,” Eddie jokingly grumbled. “Though, I guess he would argue he does enough cooking to balance it out.”

“Well, you can’t be good at everything, Eddie. Wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the world.”

He tilted his head, letting her have that point, and snatched the check before she could when it was dropped at the table.

“I know it’s still a little ways off, but have you got plans for Halloween?”

Eddie cast Karen a quick glance as they got up to take the receipt to the register. “Not really. Wasn’t sure yet what the schedule was gonna look like.”

“Well, if y’all end up working, Chris is more than welcome to join us for trick or treating. Or whoever takes him is welcome to join us.”

“Carla did last year,” Eddie admitted. “She’d probably enjoy the company if she has to this year.”

“Just let me know. We usually hit up one of the really popular neighborhoods, though not the most popular by far. Went that route once, it was too crowded and there was a bunch of teens causing some mischief. Might be a few less full sized candy bars where we go, but Denny’s never complained,” she said, grinning. 

“He already bugging you about costumes?”

“Oh, that started last month. Chris?”

“He keeps changing his mind between an astronaut and a zombie.”

“You should suggest a zombie astronaut.”

“That’s… a good idea.” Sounded kind of cool, too, so hopefully Chris would go for it and Eddie wouldn’t be scrambling last minute for a costume like last year.

“I have those, once in a while.”

They reached their cars and went their separate ways, and Eddie ran a few errands before heading for Abuela’s. Chris and Buck were already there - Pepa had wanted to teach them how to make whatever dinner was going to be - and by the time Eddie arrived, so was Marisol and Vic. 

Vic grabbed Eddie before he could step into the kitchen, tugging him to join him and Abuela in the living room, watching some generic action movie. 

“It’s turned into a battlefield in there,” he said dryly. “Trust me, stay out of it.”

Eddie raised a brow, but Abuela just smiled and shrugged. “So long as they clean up, they can do whatever.”

He leaned back, trying to get a view to the kitchen, and tried to focus over the sounds of the movie on the voices from the kitchen. He could hear Chris laughing, and Pepa was too quiet to really pick up, but Buck and Mari were loud. It sounded like they were arguing, though it didn’t sound anything less than playful. 

Taking Vic and Abuela’s advice, Eddie focused on the movie and left those in the kitchen to it.

Dinner was loud and good. Mari and Buck were still continuing what was clearly a joking argument about who was better at making some part of the dinner, and when they tried to get Pepa or Abuela to weigh in on it, Abuela just smiled and Pepa told them they both needed more practice.

Chris almost laughed himself out of his seat when that happened, probably at the equally exaggerated offended looks Mari and Buck made.

Abuela kept fussing over a scratch on Eddie’s arm, after Buck ratted him out for getting it on a job the other night. No matter how much Eddie assured her it wasn’t that bad, didn’t even need stitches, she worried. It was annoying as it was nice. Frank and Eddie had been working on Eddie ‘accepting people’s care’ and not always brushing it off as unnecessary. Sometimes it was more frustrating than not, made Eddie feel irritated and patronized. But sometimes, like now, it was kind of… okay.

Chris fell asleep in an armchair while the rest of them talked for a while after dinner. He roused enough when Eddie picked him up as they left to insist he wasn’t sleepy and could walk, but he didn’t actually try to do so and was asleep within minutes of them getting into the car.

Buck was on his phone, smile soft and content. Eddie wanted to reach out and grab his hand, hold it during the drive home, which was almost painfully sappy. But he just - he wanted some way to show Buck how much it meant to him, that he was there, that he spent so much time with Eddie and Chris and Eddie’s family, that he never once made Eddie feel like they were too much.

Buck looked up, catching his eye, and grinned.

Eddie didn’t even have to ask, this time, for Buck to stay the night. He helped Eddie get Chris in bed, then followed Eddie into his own. They didn’t even make out for a bit, just tangled up holding each other and closed their eyes.

He knew Buck fell asleep first; the absent circles his thumb was tracing on Eddie’s hip stopped and a soft not quite snore came from him. Eddie reached down to run his fingers carefully over Buck’s arm, the muscles and hair and warm skin. It was strangely soothing, just stroking back and forth. Knowing someone was there with him. That they  _ wanted _ to be there. 

It was as thrilling to think as it was terrifying, but… Eddie was trying to focus on what he had, for now.

And - somehow, miraculously - he had Buck.


End file.
